Just the random thoughts and reviews from an interesting mind.

Hello my lovely ones. I know that it has been a while, I have moved and net is sketchy at best. But I did want to come and tell you that I am alive and bringing you a bit of a review for something I have been wanting to try. 7th Heaven Face Masks (Montagne Jeunesse)

As I was perusing Walmart one day, I walked by the beauty area and on one of the end caps was a hanging area where a bunch of facial masks were hanging. All through my shopping (cat and dog stuffs for the critters in my life,) I thought about when I was younger and how I had a horrid experience with a face mask. It had smelled like glue, and ended up causing my face to turn into a strawberry and peel. Anywho, after fighting the whole time, I finally gave in to that “frivolous buy demon” and settled on getting 3 of the masks. I will make the list, explain what they are, share my experience and add my thoughts on each one. 🙂

Tea Tree Peel Off Mask – It targets those trouble areas like the T-Zone, clean your skin of impurities and calm down the facial demons aka (blackheads and pimples.) It contains Tea Tree oil, Witch Hazel and Canadian Willowherb. I just knew when I bought the mask, that it was going to be an overbearing scent of Tea Tree. I just KNEW it. While I love tea tree, and tend to hunt things down with the scent, when it is overbaring, it makes me nauseated and icky feeling. But as soon as I opened the pack, it was quite lovely and smelled fresh. So pleasantly surprised! Inside of the package is a clear, thick gel. So I rubbed said goo on my facial region. It went on pretty easily, and the pack was just enough to cover. I wasn’t bombarded by the smell or anything. I waited for the lowest time (they say to keep it on 20-25 minutes) and my face felt like it was tight and scrunched but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling at all. The one issue that I had is that while I was waiting, the mask made my face have a slight burny feeling, but in the end, it wasn’t all that bad. I began to peel the mask off (soooooo enjoyable! yes, I was the kid that covered their hands in glue to peel off!) and that is when it happened. The one thing everyone never expects but when it happens a state of shock sets in…. I COULD SEE THE BLACKHEADS FROM MY NASAL PROTRUSION ON THE MASK AND NOT ME FACE! It was amazing. All the gunk that I have been spending YEARS trying to go away, GONE in an instant. I squealed like a happy piggy. Enough to scare Waya to death. My face felt soft and supple, and just wonderful. There was no redness, no issues of any kind.

Black Seaweed Peel Off Mask – This mask is like a seaside detox for your face. It cleanses deeply and peels off dirt and oils which are stuck within your pores. It contains sea salt, laver seaweed and sea buckthorn. To be honest, I don’t know what I was thinking this was going to smell like when I bought it. I am not one that likes fishy smells or anything and I was afraid that it was going to smell like a fish market. But I was surprised when I opened the pack and it didn’t smell like that at all (THANK GOODNESS MIND YOU!) but the smell is not really something I can explain. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really pleasant either. It was that in between phase that is like “eh.” It was a bit stronger, strangely enough, than the tea tree one and sort of made my son go “WHAT IS THAT SMELL?” My reply was “HUSH IT FELLA! This is for SCIENCE!” But in the end, I waited the alloted the 20 minutes (or until dry) time and began the peeling process. It came off with relative ease and I could see more icky stuff coming off my face. My face felt smoother, more radiant and just all around better. Oh, and to top it off, it was black! I thought that was amazing personally.

Hot Spring Sauna Masque with Volcanic Minerals – Okay… This one I have to build you up to. Keep in mind I said HOT SPRING and Volcanic in the same sentence. The site says “Bursting with nutrients, the feisty ground Volcanic Spring Minerals, chopped Ginger and Pumpkin in our self-warming sauna mask opens up pores for a deep cleanse. Exfoliating Bamboo gently polishes and removes dead cells, leaving your skin sparkling.” Well when I bought this, I thought “oooh Sauna!” I didn’t think one moment that my life was going to change, to flash before my eyes like a movie. But, when I opened the package, I saw this orange looking clay and though, oh wow, this is going to exfoliate like CRAZY! It never occurred to me to actually READ the whole thing. I put it on my fingers and pressed it to my cheek, made circular motions and stalled, my mind filled for a moment with what I can only describe as pure, unmitigated TERROR. IT WAS BOILING HOT. At least to my panicked mind it was. I took a breath, hmmm, it wasn’t hot anymore. So I thought maybe I was imagining things, so I started rubbing again. HOT! HOT! But after a moment, I realized it wasn’t so hot that I was boiling the flesh from my bones. It was, comfortable. Pleasant (apparently this is the word of the day!) even. I smeared this hot orangy stuff all over my face. I went over, done my routine of pulling up the Tubes and sat for 15 minutes with the scent of ginger and pumpkin on my face. After I rinsed it off (it wasn’t a peel off,) there was a noticeable difference in my skin. And I mean NOTICEABLE. It was smooth as silk, my skin was tighter and I was shining like a star. Sparkling happened people. I felt like a new me, face wise.

For each of them, I waited a week in between. I wanted to see the results for each, without the effects of another to taint the results.

I have to say that I am definitely surprised by the results. I wish I could have taken a before and after photo but I do not own a cell phone, or a camera for that matter and my web cam is boxed up in this mess somewhere. Because the effects are visible. I feel softer, smoother and healthier facial skin wise.

So here are the pros and cons of each.

Tea Tree Mask – PRO: The scent is pleasant and it shows results INSTANTLY. It was easy to use and put on even though it was quite thick. CON: It does take a bit longer to dry than the designated 20 minutes. Yes, it says 20 to 25 minutes but if you get places that you have put it on thicker, it takes a long time to dry. It isn’t really a con of the product itself, but mostly user error on my part. Just be aware.

Black Seaweed – PRO: The effect is also instantaneous. It was also fun to use since it was black. It also easy to put on as well. CON: The smell is iffy. Not bad but one of those “Eh,” smells.

Hot Sauna – PRO: HOLY COW, my skin felt great afterwards. And didn’t feel bad at all even after the initial shock of it. CON: My skin did burn just a little bit afterwards. Not as in I’m on FIRE! or anything. I believe it was just an after effect of the herbal stuff used. It took about an hour or so for it to go away, but it wasn’t bad at all.

ALL OF THEM – PRO: Price. It was amazingly priced. It was under $1.50 (around 1.35) and does give you the results it says. The company is also big on not using animals to test on and I love them for that. CON: I honestly cannot really give a con of the all of them. I have presented the cons on each separately above and none of them really have the same thing in common.

So, as for my thoughts in general. I liked them. A lot. And I am surprised. I will definitely be using them again. There is one thing I would like to add. On their website (yes I looked them up!) they do have a sort of “contest” where you post a photo of you using their masks/foot scrubs and having a chance of winning masks that aren’t even in stores yet. Something I thought you guys and gals might be interested in.

So yes, two skelehands up from me!

OH YEAH, NOT SPONSORED! Just so ya know. I bought these with my own money.

So what do you all suggest I try next? Is there a beauty product that you use that you think I might like? Something you want to try but would rather sacrifice someone else to use before you spend your hard earned cash? Just get in touch hit me up in a comment below!

I have really sat and thought about how I am going to go about talking about this one. The movie review of Stephen Kings IT, which is the remake of the made for TV movie. I hope that you enjoy my take on it. I will explain the movie a bit, talk a bit about the differences between the original movie and the book and then give my insight on it. In other words:

SPOILERS!

It is 1988 in Derry, Maine. The movie starts by introducing Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and his little brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott). Bill is sick but has made a paper boat for Georgie to sail in the rain. As Georgie is sailing his boat, it dives into the storm drain on the side of the road. There we get our first glance of Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård.) He talks to Georgie, introduces himself and then proceeds to kill him.

It moves on to show Bill coming out of the last day of school with his friends, the loud mouth Ritchie Tozer (Finn Wolfhard) and Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer.) Bill is intent on finding his brother and has decided that the barrens are the best place to look. They meet Ben Hanscome (Jeremy Ray Taylor,) Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) and are attacked by bullies Henry Bowers, Belch, Patrick and Victor Criss. Patrick is then taken by Pennywise.

They begin experiencing horrifying things caused by Pennywise. They find that being together, Pennywise is unable to take them, so he works to break them apart. A fight between the crew ends in them splitting ways and Beverly is attacked by her father (who was thinking that she was sleeping with the boys) and she fights back by smashing her fathers head in with what appears to be the top of the toilet tank. She is then taken by Pennywise.

Bill visits her house to find her father on the floor and the words “YOU DIE IF YOU TRY” written in blood and her father dead in the bathroom. He goes and finds Ritchie and tells him that Beverly has been taken. They gather the rest of the guys together and set out to go into the sewer where they are sure Pennywise lives.

It moves to show Beverly laying on the floor of some concrete room that is filled with old childrens toys that is formed into a huge mound. and circus music is playing. Beverly looks up to see children floating up in the air around the mound. A voice comes over the music introducing “Pennywise the Dancing Clown” and as she looks over, Pennywise is standing in what looks like a mock circus tent. He begins to dance (I have to say this: It was quite hilarious) and then attacks Beverly. She says that she isn’t afraid so he introduces her to the Dead Lights. Her eyes turn white and she floats upwards.

Bill and the guys find the concrete room and see Beverly and try to get her down. They try to call to her, but nothing pulls her from the Dead Lights until Ben shakes her and kisses her. Slowly she comes back.

Bill hears a sound and moves around the toy mound to find his brother standing there. Georgie is telling Bill that he wants to go home. Bill is devastated, and says that he wants him to come home too, that he loves him but he knows that he isn’t Georgie. So he takes this gun thing (it is used to humanely kill what looks like Sheep) and shoots Georgie in the head.

He falls flat and as everyone gasps in horror at what he did, Georgies body begins to twitch and turns into Pennywise. Bill tries to shoot Pennywise again, but doesn’t realize the gun is not loaded. But his belief that it was causes Pennywise to fall back, a gunshot having smashed the side of his head. He falls back towards what looks like an old well and his head tears apart and he falls as they watch.

They all know that Pennywise is not dead, so they make a blood oath to come back if it starts again.

Henry takes the blame for all of the murders.

Now for the differences.

The made for TV movie will always be a classic, but it doesn’t go into the depth that this one takes. It is more subtle and tame. It never shows how the kids die, never really shows the depth of Pennywise and this movie does. The effects of Pennywises feeding is perfectly done. It shows how his mouth works which is a major plus. While I love the old movie (TIM CURRY IS THE BEST!) it wasn’t as detailed. You are able to see him biting into Georgie, and dragging him back into the sewer.

The movie also shows (subtle as it is) the truth behind the abuse of Beverly. The MFTV (made for TV) movies shows that she is abused yes, BUT you can really tell in this movie what that entails. And that goes for the book too.

It also gives an insight on how Pennywise works; goes more in depth about his actions. Let me explain. It shows the steps he takes to get the FEAR that he needs to survive. In the book, it gives the explanation in a candid and clear way, and the movie was trying to accomplish that while taking a few liberties.

Also, the kids are potty mouthed like crazy. In the original, there was only a slight show of that, this movie gives us more of it and the book. The “F” word was used more than 200 times in the book, the “C” word was said around 10 times along with other things.

Now, as for the book, it is more graphic, more disturbing. There is horrid violence, sexual violence, an orgy. What else can I say?

There is a lot of difference between the old MFTV movie, the 2017 movie and the book. I won’t go into detail about all of it but if you have read anything by Stephen King, watched any of the movies, you will understand.

As for my thoughts on it:

I think the movie is fantastic. I really do. Bill Skarsgård done a fantastic job of showing us the true side of Pennywise that wasn’t able to be shown on the MFTV movie. But Tim Curry will always be the top clown.

The kid actors were absolutely wonderful in their delivery. They made you sink into the scenes with them, made you feel the raw emotion that they did and that in itself is amazing. You do not expect that people so young could draw you in like that, but they definitely have the ability.

The effects were superbly done and flawless in their use. Pennywises mouth was something I was glad was elaborated on. While Tim Curry’s teeth were great, I always felt that using the teeth they did detracted from how terrifying Pennywise actually is. By doing it the way they have in the 2017 movie, showing the depth behind the teeth made it better.

I would also like to add a little about the “dancing” part. I have never seen anyone dance maniacally before. Well now I have. It was funny but scary all at once. Bill Skarsgård really nailed it. Bill, wow. Well done on that.

Do I think this is a movie for the younger folk? No… OH HELL NO. I mean, maybe over the age of 13 but no younger. It was vulgar, crude and that is something I do not feel is good for the young ones.

Now, for my end thoughts.

I think they done a great job. The movie is amazing and very well done. I was angry at first that they would take the old classic and refurbish it, but in the end, I am glad they did. I liked the changes that were made, the actions that were taken and feel that it could have even when farther in depth.

This is a meal that will be a hit at any gathering! It is delicious with subtle flavors (suit to taste of course!) and definitely filling. I hope you enjoy!

Moo Shu Vegetables

Serves 4

Ingredient List:

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Dry Sherry or Shaoxing Rice Wine (you do not have to use this if you do not have it.)

2 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Granulated Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt (or to taste!)

2 large Eggs

3/4 c Bamboo Shoots (drain water from can)

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 tbsp Gingerroot (fresh, chopped)

1 tbsp Garlic (chopped)

8 oz Mushrooms (equals 1 1/12 c – sliced)

1 c Carrots (shredded)

4 oz Firm Tofu (drained and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3 c Napa Cabbage (shredded)

3 tbsp Green Onions (chopped)

2 tsp Asian Sesame Oil

What to do:

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, sugar and salt into a small bowl. Stir well until it is a smooth sauce. Set aside. In another bowl,lightly beat eggs. Set aside.

Stack bamboo shoots two or three high and then cut them lengthwise into strips. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add vegetable oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add ginger and garlic to the oil and toss well, until fragrant (about 15 seconds should do the trick.)

Add mushrooms and toss well. Spread out the mushrooms until they are a single layer and cook, undisturbed for about 30 seconds. Add in the carrots, tofu and bamboo shoots and toss. Cook until carrots and mushrooms are softened while tossing occasionally, generally about 1 minute. Add the cabbage and toss again. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until tender-crisp (that means it still has that bite, but is softer to the mouth hole. You can add a tbsp or 2 as need to keep it from burning.)

Push vegetables to the side and pour the eggs into the center of the pan. Swirl the pan around spreading as much of the eggs as possible and then cook for about 30 seconds. Toss those around a bit to create the scrambled eggs we all love and then mix in the vegetables, but do so gently.

Stir the soy sauce mix one more time and then add to the pan. Toss it well and allow the veggies to soak up the sauce for about 1 minute. Add the green onions and the sesame oil, toss around and then transfer to a plate/bowl.

Hello my friends! Today I have a movie review for you of something that I am not outraged over. *shocker!* It is the movie The BFG. Oh and:

SPOILERS!

The movie starts out showing an orphanage and a little girl named Sophie who is wandering around in a blanket late in the evening. Everyone else is asleep, except the head mistress who moves around occasionally through the house. She locks the doors, and sorts the mail while everyone is asleep around her.

She makes her way up stairs and into the room where the children sleep, so she can sit on her bed and read; while she is covered in her blanket. She hears a noise outside the balcony and sees a trash pale overturned in the street, and a big hand moving to set it right.

She runs back into the room and hides under her blanket, only to be taken by the creature with a big hand. Who she later learns is a giant. Throughout the first stages of the story, we learn that the giant is a nice fellow, and he explains that since she saw him, he had to take her to Giant Country which is located in a hidden area of England.

He, the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), is the keeper of dreams who then distributes them across the human world (at least this is how it seemed. More about this later.) You are then introduced to the meaner side of the Giant Country. The other giants are a lot bigger than the BFG and treat him like a loser and a failure to Giant Kind.

The BFG then takes Sophie with him to where he gathers his dreams. It is a huge tree that is swarming with different color lights. Sophie begins chasing them and catches a golden one that the BFG explains is a very special one, one that he rarely sees and he explains that it is her dream. She then catches a red one, that turns out to be a bad dream shaded with red. He takes it and locks it away before explaining that it is a nightmare.

Then the BFG and Sophie go back into London and give a child a dream before they hear the sounds of the other bad giants. Sophie sets up a plan that brings the Queen of England into the picture. They give the Queen a nightmare that shows what is happening to the children in London that have been disappearing and that Sophie will be sitting on her window sill to introduce her to the BFG. The Queen wakes up to tell her dream to who I assume is her helper or something. The helper is shocked because the paper that the Queen hasn’t read shows the disappearances and as the Queen is telling the names of the giants, she forgets one and a small voice from the window says the name. That is when they find Sophie.

She explains that it is all true, and then introduces them all to the BFG. They then come up with a plan to keep the bad giants out of their land. The BFG and Sophie give the giants nightmares that causes them to feel guilt and remorse, only the worst giant woke up too soon. Bloodblotter (the big meanie one) goes on a rampage only to be caught by the Royal Airforce who the BFG had brought into Giant Country. All of the bad giants were then taken to a very remote island surrounded by water (which they hated) that was completely isolated and left with only the seeds of a nasty cucumber type vegetable.

Sophie was then adopted by the Queens helper, and every morning and night she would say out her window “hello” to the BFG who heard her, even so far away.

Now that I have gotten the story out, I will give my input and some factoids about the whos and whatsits.

The movie was based off the book “The BFG” written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake in 1982. The story was a huge success with more than 40 million copies sold world wide. It was dedicated to Dahls daughter, Olivia, who had lost her life in 1962 at the age of 7 by contracting the disease Measles Encephalitus. Through his heartbreak, this story was born.

It was later brought to the screen as a TV adaptation in 1989 with David Jason as the voice of BFG and Amanda Root as Sophie. There has also been theater performance. But it wasn’t until 2016 when it landed in the hands of Steven Spielberg that I learned about this story. The screenplay was written by Melissa Mathison and stars quite a few good actors. I shall list them below that way they do not take up all the space here.

Now for my thoughts.

This story was beautiful and I can honestly say that I am glad that I took the time to watch it. It flowed perfectly, the acting was flawless and the CG was on point. While yes, there are some spots that made me go “Eh,” those were definitely overshadowed by the wonderful feelings that the story evoked. I truly felt myself drawn in, attached to the characters and the outcomes. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful colors, but also the way it was all laid out. There was not a moment that I wasn’t smiling, or laughing or even tearing up. I also want to say that there is one point that I didn’t make in the run down above. I left it out on purpose because I want you to feel how I felt when it came to light in the story. It broke my heart and made me feel such empathy towards BFG at that moment.

Do I suggest this story? Yes. I would suggest it to anyone. I feel that sharing this movie with everyone, children included shows what it is like to not only be bullied, but doing what is right. It is facing your fears and being good in the face of adversity. While some might not see it that way, it is what I get out of it and well, not to be rude, it is my review. 😛 *laughs*

So yes, I loved this movie and will watch it again. And I suggest you do the same.

Hello friends! How is your day? I hope it is filled with beautiful things.

I am seeing that there is a lot of new people here, and I just wanted to give a little bit of information about who I am; well, and some about what I do here.

First off, I need to explain that I am a very eclectic person. I do a lot of stuff here. I review products and places, movies and books. Just anything that really tickles my fancy. I also like to give my advice about certain situations. If you read back on some of my posts, I am sure that will be obvious.

You will also find that many times when I am sleepy (or sick) I will ramble and just put my thoughts out there. There are things that I feel that I could share about what is going on with me that might help others.

See, the thing is I’m sick. I have been for a long time. I ended up with epilepsy when I was a baby after having an allergic reaction to the Pertussis part of the DtP vaccine. I have had seizures all my life, so please do not worry about me, or feel sorry. I am used to it. I also have very severe Fibromyalgia. I hurt so bad sometimes that I cannot get out of bed, and walking has become a serious issue. Something else about me is that I have every symptom of Multiple Sclerosis, but they cannot find the lesions. It is a mess honestly. Due to this foolishness, it has brought on a case of depression that I cannot seem to shake. Even though I have tried.

I am fully disabled and it breaks my heart. That fixed income, while it keeps a roof over my family’s head, is just not enough to do the things that my children should be able to. I should be working and here I am, 6 in the morning not able to sleep (AGAIN) and rambling. I do love this time of morning though. The world around you turns this beautiful shade of blue. Everywhere you look, the color seeks you out and gives peace.

I want all of you to understand one thing, if you take anything at all.

A sickness doesn’t define who you are. How we approach our sickness is. If you cower with fear, you do not succeed. The battle is lost. But if you stand up, look at it in the face and stand strong, you can and will grow stronger in the face of adversity. You begin to learn things about yourself, about those around you. And that too makes you stronger.

So, my lovely friends. Stand Strong. Follow your dreams and just live in a happy place.

I love all of you.

L.

PS! Review for a movie is coming out tomorrow!

By all means feel free to share. :)

Like this:

As a vegetarian, I love to share all the little recipes that I find so you can enjoy them as well! Tonight (aka this morning since it is almost 4am!) I am giving you one of the tastiest and nahmmy things on the planet.

Today friends, I would like to speak about something that has been in my mind for a while. To those of you that have been here for a while, you know that I have a few medical issues. But for those that are new, I shall explain.

I have epilepsy, fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, and Asthma. I am fully disabled, and spend a lot of my time in severe pain. Unfortunately in my area, the doctors most of the time either do not care, or they don’t know what is going on. *thinks for a moment* Okay, I think I need to explain this better.

For the past 3 years, it has gotten harder and harder for me to walk any distance. I get up and go to the restroom and I feel like I have run 5 miles. My breath is coming in gasps, my lungs are whistling like the Pied Piper and my heart feels like it is skipping beats. I have talked with 2 doctors about this, both of which have said, “Oh, there is nothing wrong.” I have had X-Rays on broken bones, and I get “Its nothing.”

I cannot figure out whether or not they are just incompetent, or unwilling to help me. It has went so far, that they swear I am perfectly healthy. Which in turn gets the social security office in an uproar. So now that is something I have to deal with. I would love to work, I would love to be able to “bring home the bacon” so to speak, but as my last employer said, “Lilly, we love that you work here, but with your issues, you are a liability.” And once an possible employer hears of the issues, poof, opportunity GONE.

The reason I am writing this is to explain something that I have learned over the years.

Doctors do not know what they are doing fully. That is why they call it a Medical PRACTICE. On top of that, you have the doctors that feel that a person that has insurance isn’t worthy of care. Sad to say, that is 95% of the doctors in my area. Too many people put money as the main goal in anything they do, and it makes those that need help suffer. It creates this wedge within the system that destroys the Hippocratic Oath that each of them take.

Now, I guess I need to explain to those of you that do not know the Oath.

“The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Of historic and traditional value, the oath is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine in many countries, although nowadays various modernized versions are often used; the message delivered is still the same: do no harm.

Hippocrates is often called the father of medicine in Western culture. The original oath was written in Ionic Greek, in the late Fifth Century BC. It is usually included in the Hippocratic Corpus.

Scholars widely believe that Hippocrates or one of his students wrote the oath between the 5th and 3rd century BC. Alternatively, classical scholar Ludwig Edelstein proposed that the oath was written by the Pythagoreans, an idea that others questioned for lack of evidence for a school of Pythagorean medicine.”

This was taken from the Wiki page, that speaks about what the Oath is. You will see one part that I have underlined. Do No Harm.

Being a doctor is not about how many accolades you get, or about the car you drive. It isn’t about that big house and the big screen TV. It isn’t about the amount in your bank account or the vacations you take. It is about helping people that need it. Having empathy, and a sense of dedication to your patients. Not all of us have huge sums of money to shell out for a visit. But we are still in need.

I don’t know what any of you can take from this, but it is something I truly needed to get off my chest. The only thing I know is that YOU are the only one that truly knows your body, and what it says. Only you can determine that something is wrong. Listen to what it says. And if your doctor is unwilling to listen, then find one that will.